The FDA Approved A New Vaccine Protecting Against Six Diseases & Here’s What Parents Need To Know

Parents only want what is best for their children. They want to make sure they're safe all the time, and safety extends to keeping their kids protected from preventable diseases through vaccinations. So, parents will be delighted to know that the FDA approved a new vaccine protecting against six diseases, and there's a little bit more information that they need to know about it.

This week, the Food and Drug Administration approved a new pediatric vaccine, manufactured by the French pharmaceutical company, Sanofi in partnership with Merck, according to NBC News. This new vaccine is one that parents will want to pay attention to, because it might become pretty prominent by next year.

The vaccine, named Vaxelis, according to TODAY, protects children from contracting six different preventable diseases. These diseases are, according to TODAY: diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, poliomyelitis, hepatitis B, and invasive disease due to haemophilus influenzae type B. This is pretty important, considering that there are 14 diseases that the CDC recommends vaccinating against. So, the fact that parents will now be able to get six vaccines out of the way through a single vaccination (over a period of time) is such a time saver.

Not only will it reduce the amount of visits to the doctor's office, but anxious kids (or those fearful of needles) will be so relieved that they won't have to get as many shots as they did in the past.

Vaxelis is a vaccine created for children between the ages between six weeks old to four years old, according to NBC News, to ensure that these children are being protected early on in life. And once the vaccine is on the market, it will be recommended that it is administered in three doses two months apart starting when a kid is two months old, then four months and six months of age, according to Precision Vaccinations. But, this isn't something that doctors (and kids) can access right away. Sanofi is currently working on the "production and supply" of the vaccine and are hoping that it will be available come 2020 or later, according to TODAY.

So, this vaccine won't be in doctor's offices immediately, and might even be available after your child already gets all of the vaccinations that Vaxelis covers. But it is something that parents looking to get pregnant within the next few years or people wanting to start a family will want to pay attention to — because it's a vaccination that their baby could possibly get one day.

This isn't the first vaccine to protect against multiple diseases in one. Combination vaccines have been in circulation in the United States since the 1940's, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the DTaP vaccine (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis) covers half of the vaccines that Vaxelis protects against.

The CDC highly suggests that parents vaccinate their children on-time, according to a schedule that their pediatrician recommends or the vaccine schedule that the CDC recommends. This is so children can "build immunity" before they are exposed to diseases that could potentially be life threatening. In spite of some hesitations that any parent may have about them, vaccines arevery safe, according to the CDC, and the benefits that they provide outweigh any possible side effects or negative affects that they may have.

When Vaxelis is available for pediatricians to use, it will provide parents with a another way to ensure that their children are protected against certain preventable diseases. But it just might be a while until the vaccine is on the market.

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